USA Rare Earth's $2.8 Billion Brazil Deal vs. Its $1.2 Billion South Carolina Bet: Which One Actually Matters More?

USA Rare Earth is making major investments as it seeks to become a leading domestic producer of permanent magnets.

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Its $1.2 Billion South Carolina Bet: Which One Actually Matters More?

Courtney Carlsen, The Motley Fool Sun, October 11, 2026 at 12:04 PM PDT 4 min read USAR -4.57% NVDA +0.97% Rare-earth elements are crucial components for modern technologies, including defense systems.

After decades of aggressive state subsidies and price undercutting, China controls 70% of rare-earth element extraction and 90% of processing, according to research from The Motley Fool .

USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ: USAR) is one of the companies looking to break China's dominance by establishing a fully integrated, Western-based "mine-to-magnet" supply chain independent of China.

In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia.

For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia.

Continue » Building an end-to-end industrial network from scratch is a big undertaking, and USA Rare Earth has made some massive investments in the last year, including a $2.8 billion acquisition of Brazilian miner Serra Verde and another $1.2 billion investment in its South Carolina facility to process rare earths.

Here's which investment matters more, and the role each plays in USA Rare Earth's mine-to-magnet strategy.

4, USA Rare Earth completed its $2.8 billion acquisition of Brazilian miner Serra Verde Group.

The acquisition makes USA Rare Earth the only producer of scale for all four magnetic and heavy rare-earth elements outside Asia and gives it immediate access to the upstream feedstock it needs to produce permanent magnets.

USA Rare Earth aims to be fully integrated across the value chain, including extraction, separation, alloying, and magnet manufacturing.

The company currently operates a facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where it manufactures sintered NdFeB permanent magnets that combine light rare-earth elements (neodymium and praseodymium) and heavy rare-earth elements (dysprosium and terbium) with iron and boron.

In addition to its Oklahoma facility, USA Rare Earth broke ground on Sept.

9 on a $1.2 billion, 800,000-square-foot facility in Blacksburg, South Carolina.

Once it becomes operational, the facility will aim to produce 6,400 metric tons of magnets and 5,000 metric tons of alloy annually.

It will be a crucial part of management's larger goal of 10,000 metric tons per annum of domestic magnet capacity by 2029.